"Police line do not cross" yellow plastic tape marks the boundary to a restricted area in a city downtown at night with street light, where police forces are investigating crimes or accidents and performing their duties. Outdoor crime scene. Defocused background. Copy space on image top side.

Three Arrested in Georgia Tech Riots

On Monday night a prayer vigil for Scout (Scott) Schultz, the Georgia Tech student shot by campus police on Saturday, turned violent. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, three individual were arrested following assaults on campus officers and the burning of a police vehicle. One officer was sent to the hospital.

It is not clear whether those arrested were students at the campus or outside agitators, but the turn of events is notable for several reasons. First, with the rash of campus protests that have turned violent or destructive, Georgia and its large campus system have remained free of such incidents. Next, Scout made a 911 call on the night of the shooting providing his own physical description in the third person. During the call he stated the man he was reporting might be drunk, had a knife and may have a gun on his hip. Finally, several suicide notes were found in Scout’s dorm room. His father in public statements has said Scout was suffering from a “‘mental breakdown”, indicating there were mental health issues at play in the situation.

Cellphone video of the event shows the responding officers acting on this information and repeatedly trying to encourage Scout to drop the weapon, reported a multipurpose utility knife. Also recall, officers were told that Scout may have a gun on his hip.

With the available information, it would seem an initial theory that Scout intended to commit suicide by cop and was successful in setting up that very outcome with his 911 indicating there was threatening man on campus and his behavior at the scene. This undoubtedly tragic and so very sad for his family, friends and the Georgia Tech community. Certainly a vigil to mourn such a loss at a college campus is understood and a legitimate way to mourn and promote community healing. But why the riots?

Scout was the leader of the Pride organization on the Georgia Tech campus and identified as indicated in the profile above. There is no indication in the video that the officers knew who he was was or that he was even a student, let alone his sexual orientation. Yet his very public profile places him in the ever expanding group of identity groups that will cause the Social Justice set to break things, set fires and engage in violence.

With little regard for the suffering of the Schultz’s at losing their child in a tragic and very public way, Scout’s friends and the Georgia Tech community, a certain subset of the far Progressive Left will turn a tragedy involving any member of their intersectional grid to create havoc and division. I can almost assure you if Scout had been a heterosexual white male in this situation, last night would have ended with a peaceful vigil.

The idea that there are special classes of victims in cases such as these is preposterous and one anyone who believes in society based on order and equal application of the law must vociferously reject it. The simple truth is this. Police officers are sworn to protect and serve without regard to any of the identity tags the Progressive Left likes to give people. However, officers are not in any way required to risk grave personal injury or death in the service of that oath.

A popular idea seems to be evolving that Scout only carried a multi-purpose utility knife. The truth is that is a weapon capable of causing severe injury and even death depending where a person is cut. You may recall Flight 93 was hijacked with box cutters. Officers were also told a gun may in play in a state with campus carry. How close are they supposed to let a suspect to get to find out?

Mental health issues and intoxication, both potential factors in this situation, increase the risk of officer injury when they are called to respond in situations such as the one that occurred on Saturday night. The Georgia Tech officers were forced to make a very quick decision in a very short period of time with a non-compliant suspect who continued to advance with one confirmed and one one potential weapon. It does not matter whether that suspect was white, brown, black, gay, straight, male or female. How these circumstances devolve into what happened at Georgia Tech last night are all about the politics of identity favored by the Left that must be called out at every turn.

About the author

Stacey Lennox

Recovering former executive who now works for herself. I adore my boss. I write some stuff and podcast some stuff every week. Trying to remain a happy warrior. If we lose the ability to laugh, we lose it all.